This invention relates generally to hay balers, and specifically to an improved feeder finger assembly for use with the infeed mechanism of a hay baler.
The quest for increased efficiency in agricultural mechanization has resulted in improved equipment in all phases of harvesting and gathering of crops. Of interest to the instant invention is the hay baler which has progressed during the last four decades from a crude semi-automatic apparatus to a highly reliable and completely automated crop baling machine.
Though the various manufactured baler designs include elements which broadly perform similar process steps, there are structural variations which set one machine apart from another. Generally, modern automatic balers pick up crop materials from a windrow or swath lying on the ground, deposit them in an infeed housing where they are moved by a feeding mechanism into the bale forming chamber. In the bale forming chamber the crop materials are compacted by a reciprocating plunger and pushed through a tying mechanism before being ejected through the rear of the baler onto the ground or into a trailing wagon. The instant invention is directed to an improvement in the feeding mechanism within the infeed housing.
Some balers, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,082, employ a rotating auger to move the crop materials from the pickup to the bale forming chamber. On the other hand, there are a number of balers on the market which substantially accomplish the same result by the use of a multiplicity of pivoted feeder fingers moved through a complex pattern by mechanical linkages (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,885,953). Though the instant invention could be advantageously employed in the latter type apparatus, it is most readily applicable to the general type of feeding mechanism shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,363. As can be seen in the 3,724,363 patent, a plurality of feeder finger pairs, 17-20, are rigidly fixed to a support bar 34 which rides on rollers within guide member 35. The fingers are moved through a somewhat elliptical pattern toward and away from bale forming chamber 11 to feed the crop materials into the chamber.
Because of the variation in type of crops being baled, their moisture content, size, etc., it has been found desirable to change the angle of certain of the fingers relative to the support bar 34. The actual change being considered is the depth of penetration of the finger into or toward the bale forming chamber -- a change which, under certain conditions, better packs the material into the opposing corners and side of the bale chamber. Generally, the alterations are made to the first pair of fingers (closest to the bale forming chamber), but certain conditions call for the additional change of the second, or other, pairs. Also, though unusual, it may from time to time be found advantageous to have one pair of fingers at a different angle than the other. Except for the situations described below, the most well known method of modifying the angle is to have fingers manufactured with different angles, and substitute them for those being used.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,073 shows a feeder finger 46 which is angled toward the bale forming chamber 18. The finger may be rotated to reverse the angle and thus modify the feeding characteristics. Additionally, the finger may be moved along support bar 44 to modify its penetration into the bale forming chamber.
The adjustability shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,866 is likewise advantageous, but limited to only small variations.
The invention to be described below is to a feeder finger assembly which is easily adjusted over a relatively wide range to accommodate the varying crop conditions encountered.